Howardwick, Texas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Howardwick, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Howardwick lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Howardwick — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Howardwick — the short answer
Howardwick, Texas: USDA zone 7a, about 224 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~224
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 1K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 7a is Howardwick's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Howardwick's 224-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Howardwick
Each reading below is measured for Howardwick itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHowardwick runs about 224 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredHowardwick sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Howardwick is in
Howardwick sits in the Southwestern Tablelands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Howardwick's own centroid rather than borrowed from Donley County.
What Grows in Howardwick
Every plant below cleared Howardwick's own zone 7a and its 224-day season. Each card opens that plant's Texas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Howardwick?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Howardwick
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Howardwick. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HITCHIN POSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- THE CANTEENUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- JA-12-01-132Nitrate · 5.4 mi
- ALLSUPS 370Underground Storage Tanks · 6.4 mi
- ALLSUPS 48Underground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- CLARENDON PUBLIC SCHOOLSUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- CLARENDON OUTPOSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR #10204Brownfields · 6.6 mi
- GARRISON FOOD MART 3Underground Storage Tanks · 6.6 mi
- CITY OF CLARENDON BARNUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.6 mi
- BN YARD CLARENDONUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.6 mi
- TAYLOR FOOD MART 2028Underground Storage Tanks · 6.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Howardwick's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Howardwick.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Howardwick
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Howardwick
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Howardwick, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 34 sites within ~10 miles of Howardwick. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Howardwick
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Howardwick average
Your land is one point inside Howardwick
Everything above resolves to Howardwick as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at city scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Howardwick Average
Howardwick Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Howardwick
- ●One soil character for all of Howardwick
- ●Frost dates read at Howardwick's scale: Mar 29 to Nov 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Howardwick's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Howardwick
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Howardwick, Texas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Howardwick averages can't show:
We read public map data around Howardwick — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Howardwick average
How we know this about Howardwick
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Howardwick’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Howardwick
When does frost risk typically end in Howardwick?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Howardwick typically lands around Mar 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Apr 19.
When is the first frost in Howardwick?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Howardwick typically arrives around Nov 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 25, so the watching starts about Oct 9 — about 224 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Howardwick?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Howardwick sees about 224 frost-free days — roughly Mar 29 through Nov 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 19 to Oct 25, about 189 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Howardwick?
The federal record around Howardwick is light — 38 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (34), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Howardwick?
From about Oct 9 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Nov 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Nov 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Howardwick's scale — its 7a band and its 224-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Howardwick's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Howardwick’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Howardwick's own scale — its own ~224-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,296 acres it covers and 38 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Howardwick's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Howardwick's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 29 and Nov 8 and the ~224-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 38 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Howardwick, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Howardwick's boundary and the 1,296 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~224-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Howardwick's own centroid, the Southwestern TablelandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Howardwick's 1,296 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Donley County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Donley County
- The growing challenges every Texas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Texas
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Donley County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Howardwick's 1,296 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Howardwick you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,296 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Howardwick-wide figureread your own land →
More in Texas
Wider growing context
What grows across TexasHowardwick sits outside our named growing regions, so Texas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides